Thank You. I had something similar this past weekend. In this case, the scammer actually bought the camera and almost immediately sent me a message asking I send more photos directly to a gmail account. He claimed he was worried it was stolen. I sent him back a message through eBay. He never responded or paid. I opened a couple of cases with eBay and got the sale canceled. I am guessing that once they got hold of my email they would try to spoof a phony payment notice. You are right. The wording and poor sentence structure always gives it away.
Yep, this happened to me once as well. I suspect these crooks watch for just-sold items, and hit up the seller right away, before they've had a chance to ship. Definitely glad you spotted the red flags, and you nailed the course of prevention--always communicate ONLY through eBay itself, and when in doubt, confirm (carefully) with the buyer, or engage eBay support.
Thanks for telling your story. I nearly got ripped off when buying a camera from E-Bay. So I had a similar issue when buying. You have to be so careful, these guys deliberately target small expensive items (like cameras.) And your video shows that it's sellers just as much as buyers who are at risk. My advice to anyone is, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. And don't rush the process when buying or selling something expensive like a camera. Double check everything and take your time. Once you buy something and the money is taken from your account, or in this case once you post something... there is no going back. So be sure and check.
This one is super common. Got tons of these when I switched systems and sold all my Nikon gear (about 10 items). And to avoid issues with legit sales through eBay, I shipped everything with signature required, so I had proof it was received.
Sorry to hear this happened or nearly happened to you. I have long since stopped using Ebay to sell camera equipment. Ebay does not support sellers properly so thats one issue and secondly as you have seen it's so easy for scammers to operate around it. I would rather get a bit less for my camera equipment and sell/part ex to a reputable dealer than take any sort of risk or hassles through Ebay selling.
I used to buy and sell on Ebay all the time, but a few difficult customers and close calls like this have really made me reluctant to use it much anymore. Sadly, I haven't found another market with the same reach.
Back in 2000, I got scammed by a dodgy seller on eBay. Unfortunately for that scammer ring, the USPS was used for sending my payment and for shipping the merchandise. That merchandise was not even close to what I ordered so I made a report to the postal inspector. Ultimately, the scammers were arrested, prosecuted, and put in federal prison.
Yup I tried to sell my Canon 100-400mm lens on EBay few years ago. 3 times I had buyers trying to get me off the EBay site to complete the purchase. End of the story, I kept the lens as a backup.
I got a similar scam message just after selling a lens 'Thanks for the deal! I had to go away for a few weeks to my father, he is ill and is now in the hospital and I will be at this address:' It set off my scam radar so I didn't fall for it.
Hi Brent, I'm sorry for the stress you've been through. BUT - thanks for sharing your experience with us! 👍 Sensitizes (hopefully) people who aren't that experienced with such things. Greetings from Uwe Frankfurt am Main, Germany
I used to sell non photo items occasionally on eBay and buy and sell on Facebook marketplace. The amounts of scams going on on eBay was a constant stream of shady offers and super annoying. Their filters or algorithms are terrible at catching this stuff, so you are pretty much on your own. I got tired of it and concluded that it is not worth it anymore. Getting 3-4 scam offers for each listing just ruined eBay for me. My experience with marketplace was a little better, still not great and I lost money to a buyer who sold me a camera with spots on the sensor that wouldn’t come off. So I definitely at this pint would not buy or sell anything camera gear on the platforms and just avoid them now. But at the same time I had a not very great situation with KEH buying used gear, so I can’t recommend that either.
I had an eBay seller ship my item. Showed "delivered" after a couple of days. Well...not to MY house! The jerk had shipped it across town (presumably to someone he knew). Had to call eBay CS and explain what happened, but I got my money back.
Glad it worked out in the end Brent. There's a lot of dodgy activity on that platform and I no longer trust it, period. I use MPB to sell. I know at a loss but at least its safe! Hope you are feeling a bit better.
Hm... its the normal trick, nothing surprising really. It is almost the only possible trick. You only and strictly only ship to the address confirmed by Paypal, and you are insured.
You must be new at this. I get this request every time I sell photography equipment. Any request that requires you to go outside the system is almost always a scam. Even when it follows normal protocol I always do background check to verify. Be especially aware of new accounts, although it may be legit be wary and do your research before selling. Glad it went well for you though, how’s the shoulder doing?
Thank You. I had something similar this past weekend. In this case, the scammer actually bought the camera and almost immediately sent me a message asking I send more photos directly to a gmail account. He claimed he was worried it was stolen. I sent him back a message through eBay. He never responded or paid. I opened a couple of cases with eBay and got the sale canceled. I am guessing that once they got hold of my email they would try to spoof a phony payment notice. You are right. The wording and poor sentence structure always gives it away.
Yep, me too. No more Ebay, or FBMP way too many crooks out there. Glad you didn't take a hit.
Yep, this happened to me once as well. I suspect these crooks watch for just-sold items, and hit up the seller right away, before they've had a chance to ship. Definitely glad you spotted the red flags, and you nailed the course of prevention--always communicate ONLY through eBay itself, and when in doubt, confirm (carefully) with the buyer, or engage eBay support.
Glad it worked out mate. Some people really make you second guess humanity sometimes.
Thanks for telling your story. I nearly got ripped off when buying a camera from E-Bay. So I had a similar issue when buying. You have to be so careful, these guys deliberately target small expensive items (like cameras.) And your video shows that it's sellers just as much as buyers who are at risk. My advice to anyone is, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. And don't rush the process when buying or selling something expensive like a camera. Double check everything and take your time. Once you buy something and the money is taken from your account, or in this case once you post something... there is no going back. So be sure and check.
This one is super common. Got tons of these when I switched systems and sold all my Nikon gear (about 10 items). And to avoid issues with legit sales through eBay, I shipped everything with signature required, so I had proof it was received.
Did it work?
@@tictac3147 yep
So glad you didn't get scammed. I'm pretty done selling on ebay....might not be worth the hassle and high fees.
Ugh, sorry to hear that happened to you. I had a similar experience and they worded it a lot like your situation. Ebay sucks these days.
Sorry to hear this happened or nearly happened to you. I have long since stopped using Ebay to sell camera equipment. Ebay does not support sellers properly so thats one issue and secondly as you have seen it's so easy for scammers to operate around it. I would rather get a bit less for my camera equipment and sell/part ex to a reputable dealer than take any sort of risk or hassles through Ebay selling.
Yeah, I'm starting to feel that way too. I rarely use eBay as it is, and this stuff isn't helping, lol.
I used to buy and sell on Ebay all the time, but a few difficult customers and close calls like this have really made me reluctant to use it much anymore. Sadly, I haven't found another market with the same reach.
Back in 2000, I got scammed by a dodgy seller on eBay. Unfortunately for that scammer ring, the USPS was used for sending my payment and for shipping the merchandise. That merchandise was not even close to what I ordered so I made a report to the postal inspector. Ultimately, the scammers were arrested, prosecuted, and put in federal prison.
Never get into communications with a buyer outside of Ebay. Its been an issue for years.
Yup I tried to sell my Canon 100-400mm lens on EBay few years ago. 3 times I had buyers trying to get me off the EBay site to complete the purchase.
End of the story, I kept the lens as a backup.
I got a similar scam message just after selling a lens 'Thanks for the deal! I had to go away for a few weeks to my father, he is ill and is now in the hospital and I will be at this address:'
It set off my scam radar so I didn't fall for it.
Hi Brent, I'm sorry for the stress you've been through. BUT - thanks for sharing your experience with us! 👍 Sensitizes (hopefully) people who aren't that experienced with such things.
Greetings from Uwe
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
I hate this crap man can't sell gear anywhere except to close friends or to keh or mpb for gamestop crackhead prices.
They attached an image of the address so that eBay wouldn't be able to track or see this...
Same thing happened to me on a camera I sold! Fortunately like you my scam radar went off and I ignored it.
That type of scam has become so common on Ebay lately...I've had the same 5-6 times now.
I used to sell non photo items occasionally on eBay and buy and sell on Facebook marketplace.
The amounts of scams going on on eBay was a constant stream of shady offers and super annoying. Their filters or algorithms are terrible at catching this stuff, so you are pretty much on your own.
I got tired of it and concluded that it is not worth it anymore.
Getting 3-4 scam offers for each listing just ruined eBay for me.
My experience with marketplace was a little better, still not great and I lost money to a buyer who sold me a camera with spots on the sensor that wouldn’t come off.
So I definitely at this pint would not buy or sell anything camera gear on the platforms and just avoid them now.
But at the same time I had a not very great situation with KEH buying used gear, so I can’t recommend that either.
Thanks for sharing this. Hopefully it will help someone not get scammed. 👍
It's a good idea to spread the word. My brother in law lost a nice old telecaster with a very similar scam.
I’m done with eBay. Got totally scammed selling a 90D. Neither eBay or pay pal was any help. F them all.
Thanks Brent, been there done that, that is one reason I only sell local through PayPal.
Thanks for the “Head’s up”! 😳
Oh what a world...
I had an eBay seller ship my item. Showed "delivered" after a couple of days. Well...not to MY house! The jerk had shipped it across town (presumably to someone he knew).
Had to call eBay CS and explain what happened, but I got my money back.
Well spotted Brent.
This is why I sell all cameras gear to KEH or B&H.
I have more or less stayed off of eBay for quite some time now. its shady.
I got scammed off Facebook marketplace. Lost my a7rii. Guy said it was for his sisters birthday and he wanted overnight shipping.
eBay is sadly a scam I will never use it again
Buy and sell to KEH or someone like that for no worries.
Glad it worked out in the end Brent. There's a lot of dodgy activity on that platform and I no longer trust it, period. I use MPB to sell. I know at a loss but at least its safe! Hope you are feeling a bit better.
I too use MPB and KEH and on the occasion Craigslist.
Thanks
in the future sell on MPB
Hm... its the normal trick, nothing surprising really. It is almost the only possible trick. You only and strictly only ship to the address confirmed by Paypal, and you are insured.
Lol. How I would do it ...✂️... if I was nefarious.
We all know thats how you do it.😮
Obviously I'm joking. Thank you for the heads-up .
They used a picture so that the scan couldn't catch it...
Hopefully soon the AI/scan will begin to
OK, maybe I was falling asleep, didn't you say you have a good dialog with the buyer and all was good?
I sell something, It's in person.
You must be new at this. I get this request every time I sell photography equipment. Any request that requires you to go outside the system is almost always a scam. Even when it follows normal protocol I always do background check to verify. Be especially aware of new accounts, although it may be legit be wary and do your research before selling.
Glad it went well for you though, how’s the shoulder doing?
The eBay scammer was me, sorry I really needed a decent camera...